‘Whether the plant is to heal the body or the
spirit or whether it is part of an apprenticeship,
what makes it work is your good intention
towards the plant. They are beings, which have
their own forms or they can be like human
beings with faces and bodies.
When the spirit accepts the person, and the
person has the will, the spirit grants them
energy. The path to knowledge opens, and
the healing takes place’
Guillermo Arevalo – Shipibo Maestro

In the Amazonian tradition working with ‘teacher plants’ (planta
maestras) is known as the ‘Shaman’s Diet’. This work can be seen as a
conscious set of actions to incorporate the plant spirit into one’s own
spirit. From this incorporation or union, the plant spirit informs and
teaches both human maestro and apprentice. They learn the magical
chants (icaros) which invoke the power of the plant, how to use the
plant for healing purposes, and how to strengthen the ‘dieter’ both
psychologically and physically.
The purpose of the diet is to prepare the body and nervous system
for the powerful knowledge and expansion of consciousness given by
teacher plants.
RATIONAL CHALLENGES
Coming to terms with the existence of teacher plants offers a significant
challenge to the rational Western mind, and a further leap of imagination is
required to incorporate the ‘other’ consciousness, or spirit of the plant.
Furthermore the word ‘shaman’ has arrived in the Amazon relatively
recently. Traditional people have many different words for the plant
specialisation of the maestro or vegetalista. Benjamin Ochavano, a 70year old Shipibo vegetalista, tells how his father who was a healer was
known as a moraya or banco (the Spanish version was curandero). A
curandero could then further specialise in a particular plant such as chonta
(bamboo) and would then be called a chontero, or one specialising in
aromas would be a perfumero.
Another challenge to the Western, rational mind wishing to enter the
magical world into which plant spirits transport us, is that it is mainly
accessible through dream language or an expansion of the imagination.
Thus dreams and our imaginative powers act like doorways during a
plant diet and connect us with the plant spirit.
Alonso del Rio, a friend who has lived with the Shipibo people, is uniquely
well-equipped to be a bridge between the indigenous wisdom and modern
Westerners. He relates;
‘The mind of the traditional maestro is very different from yours or mine.
He has lived in the rainforest without contact with the Western world, so to
have access to the same visions, the same codes is difficult. But I have found
that the expansion of consciousness and the power that the plant gives you to
understand many things is perfectly valid.
The magical space to which we are taken - call it the ‘unconscious’ or
any term you want to use depending on your psychological model - is
one where all the kingdoms of nature can communicate. That is, people
can talk to plants, and plants with minerals, minerals to animals and
animals with humans… all in the same language. It is a very real
communication and one of the greatest mysteries which exists. This is
something which an English person or a Peruvian born in Lima can
experience just as an Amazonian person. Because you can do it without
speaking in a native dialect, it doesn’t go through the mind but between
one spirit and another.’
PAGE 28

SACRED HOOP ISSUE 31 2000

This point was underlined for me while
chatting with Juanita, the owner of a stall in
the famous plant market in Pasaje Paquito,
Belen, near Iquitos. She was describing
some of the potions, lotions, plants, tonics,
barks, perfumes, roots, oils, aphrodisiacs
and leaves that she sells, and remarking
“When you talk to the plants you will get to
know them like friends, they have their own
spirits, their own personalities”.
PLANT ATTRACTION
The famed love potion of the Amazon
known as the pusanga 1 demonstrates this
complex relationship between shaman and
plant spirit. To the Western rational
viewpoint it makes no sense whatsoever that
a concoction of leaves, roots and seeds can
attract a lover, or bring good luck.
However, I was privileged to be invited to
participate in preparing pusangas, which are
normally prepared away from their clients.
This experience showed me that far from
interfering with the freedom of other
individuals or putting a ‘number’ on them,
the pusanga was altering something within
ourselves, which was brought out by the
ingredients, the magic of the plants. Whatever
this was, it felt wholesome and good.
Asking shaman Javier Arevalo what the
pusanga actually does - is it inside or
outside of us - his response was: “When
you pour it onto your skin it begins to
penetrate your spirit, and the spirit is what
gives you the force to pull the people. The
spirit is what pulls”.
Calling this ‘sympathetic magic’ does not
do the process justice. To illustrate this,
the water traditionally used for the
pusanga (which is specifically made for
each client) has been collected from a deep
trek in the rainforest - sometimes forty or
fifty miles - where there are no people, and
where clay pools collect. Thousands of the
most beautiful coloured parrots and
macaws gather to drink from these pools,
for the mineral content.
Now the great leap of imagination
required is to bring into yourself the
knowledge, the feeling, the sense that the
water in the pusanga has drawn in or
‘attracted’ thousands of the most brightlycoloured creatures on the planet. If you
can make this leap, it can generate a shift
in consciousness in you.
To sample this for yourself, just find a
quiet moment and space, close your eyes,
and with the power of your imagination
draw in the verdant, abundant forest, filled
with life, colour and sound. Sense the rich
vibrancy of the rainforest as a single
breathing rhythmic totality of life force.
When you have this image, expand it to
include, the humid warmth, the smell of

When you talk to the plants you
will get to know them like friends,
they have their own spirits,
their own personalities.

earth, the scent of plants, hear the sound of
insects and bird song, allow all your senses
to experience this. Then with a conscious
decision draw this sensory experience into
your being. Whenever you are ready, open
your eyes, and check how you are feeling.

the individual is bathed in flowers which have
been soaking in water for many hours...these
flowers and plants have sometimes been
gathered from deep and innaccessible locations
in the rainforest

MORE THAN DIET
The shamans say that plants connect us
with nature because they take their
nourishment directly from the Earth, as
well as the Sun’s rays, the air, and water.
They allow us to know and recognize
ourselves. A shaman must know this and
must love his people to heal them.
Maestros do not invent diets, they are given
them by the plant spirits themselves; but
there is more to it than simply abstaining
from certain foods and activities. It involves a
state of purification, retreat, commitment, and
respect for their connection with everything
around them - above all the rainforest.
The power of the plants can work in many
ways - the colours of the flowers, the perfume,
their shape, form and associations. Maestro
Artiduro Aro Cardenas explains “A smell has
the power to attract. I can also make smells to
attract business, people who buy. You just rub
it on your face and it brings in the people to
your business, if you are selling, people come
to buy. I also make perfumes for love, and
others for flourishing. These are the forces of
nature, what I do is give it direction with my
breath so it has effect. I use my experience of
the plants which I have dieted. I have a
relation with the plants and with the patient - I
can’t make these things on a commercial scale.
“When I diet I take in the strength of
the plant and it stays with me. Later I find
the illness or suffering of the person, or
what it is they want, and the plant guides
me and tells me if it is the right one for
that person, and I cure them.”
TREATING RELATIONSHIPS
In common with many maestros, Artiduro
works with the plants not only to heal
illnesses but to resolve domestic and
family problems;
“I get people coming for help to give up
drug addiction and people with family
problems. Supposing the man has gone off
and left his family, the Mama is here with
me and the Papa is far away. I pull him
back so he returns to his home so that the
family can consolidate again. In a short
time he will be thinking of his children
and his wife, and he comes back. I don’t
need to have the actual plants in front of
me, I call the plant spirits which work for
that - renaco, huayanche, lamarosa,
sangapilla perfumes - and I call his spirit
back to the family home. I blow smoke to
reunite them.”

Another (and very enjoyable) way to
experience the qualities, consciousness, or
spirit of the plant is when they are used to
attract benign forces in los baños florales,
or flower baths. Here the individual is
bathed in flowers which have been soaking
in water for many hours. The maestro
prepares the water by blowing mapacho
(jungle tobacco) smoke and at the same
time placing his intention into the flowersoaked water. Again these flowers and
plants have sometimes been gathered from
deep and inaccessible locations in the
rainforest and selected for their specific
qualities which the maestro feels are
needed to help that person.
PERMANENT EFFECTS
Dieting plant medicine is totally different
than pharmaceutical medication which
only affects one whilst it is being taken;
these kinds of plant medicines seem to
have a permanent effect in some way,
metaphorical or otherwise, altering one's
consciousness, or DNA.
One of the great revelations we can
experience working with the plant spirit is
that we are not separate from the natural
world. In Western culture we perceive
ourselves to be separate beings, our minds
firmly embedded within our physical being typically our head. The plants show us that
this way of being is an illusion and that we
are all connected - all of us, and everything
else is a discrete element in the great
universal field of consciousness, or Spirit.
I would like to acknowledge the invaluable support
from Peter Cloudsley in conducting the interviews
with the Maestros.
Howard G. Charing is a partner in Eagle’s Wing
Centre for Contemporary Shamanism. His initiation
into the world of Shamanism was sudden, which
was caused by a serious accident (a lift crash)
which resulted in severe injuries and a near-death
experience. After many months of physical pain
and disability, he had a transformational experience
which started him on the path to healing.
If you would like to discover more about this work,
Howard conducts ‘Plant Spirit Medicine’ journeys
to the Amazon Rainforest. He also offers a ‘Plant
Spirit Medicine’ workshop programme in
conjunction with Ross Heaven, who has worked
with the medsen fey ‘Leaf Doctors’ of Haiti.
For details write to:
Eagle’s Wing,
BM. BOX 7475,
London, WC1N 3XX
Tel: (01273) 882 027 www.shamanism.co.uk.
NOTES
1: For more information on Pusanga see Sacred Hoop
Magazine Issue 36
PHOTOS:

SOME AMAZONIAN PLANT POWERS
CHIRIC SANANGO BRUMFELSIA GRANDIFLORA is good for
colds and arthritis and has the effect of heating up the
body, so much so that the maestros advise a cold shower
after each dose! This plant can be used in baths for good
luck, and bring success to fishing, hunting etc. This plant
also makes it possible for people to open up their heart
to feel love for humans and animals (‘warms up’ a cold
heart) and bestows the ability to identify with other
people as though they were your brothers and sisters. It
grows mainly in the Upper Amazon and only a few
‘restingas’ (high ground which never floods) in the Lower
Amazon. The gift of Chiric Sanango is self esteem, and
develops a deep connection with your inner self.
GUAYUSA PIPER CALLOSUM is good for excessive acidity
and other digestive problems in the stomach and bile.
Also it is both energizing and relaxing at the same time and
develops mental strength. Guayusa also has the effect of
giving lucid dreams (being aware during the dream that
you are dreaming). The plant is also known as the
‘watchman's plant’, as even when sleeping you seem to
have an awareness of the outer physical surroundings.
My experience with this plant was quite incredible. I
found that the boundary between sleeping and being
awake to be more fluid than I had anticipated. Even now,
sometime after taking it, my dreams are more colourful,
richer, and lucid than before. When taking this plant, I
sometimes wake up not knowing if I have actually ‘woken
up’ or I am dreaming that I’ve woken up.
AJO SACHA PSEUDOCALYMMA is a very important plant
to Amazonian shamans. On a physical level it purifies the
blood, and is used for people suffering from arthritis and
rheumatism. It also brings mental strength, acuity of mind,
and it can take you out of saladera (a run of bad luck,
inertia, or a sense of not living to the full). The plant is used
to enhance hunting skills by covering up human smell with
it’s own garlic-like smell.
Taking this plant I found my senses being altered and
enhanced. I could zoom in and focus on sounds
emanating from the rainforest, my sense of smell became
sharper, and in somehow I could tune into the breathing
or rhythm of the rainforest. The sound of insects and birds
was no longer a random phenomenon but became a
rhythmic breath, rising and falling.